How many apples are there?
There are many apples.
How much rice is there?
There is a lot of rice.
How many cars are there?
There are two cars.
How much fruit is there?
There is a lot of fruit.
How many men are there?
There aren’t any. There is a woman.
How much water is there?
There is a lot of water.
How many houses are there?
There is a house.
How much traffic is there?
There is a lot of traffic.
We use how many for things we can count. We use how many with plural nouns.
We use how much for things we can’t count. We use how much with singular nouns.
Negative + “much” / “many”
We use much and many with the negative.
many
- There aren’t many apples in the refrigerator.
- There aren’t many flowers in the garden.
much (a small amount)
- There isn’t much water in the bottle.
- There isn’t much flour in the bag.
“any”
We use “any” with negative to show there is none (zero).
- There aren’t any apples.
- There aren’t any books on the shelf.
- There isn’t any rice left.
- There isn’t any milk in the refrigerator.